Living a long and happy life in spite of having ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease

7. Chill

One warm day, my daughters took me to Applebee’s for lunch. We got there early, around 11:30. When the waitress came to take our drink order, I ordered one of the mixed drinks (with alcohol) off of their little drinks and desserts menu. The waitress looked at her watch and made some comment about me starting the drinks early and something about it not even being noon yet. Maybe I should have told her that I don’t often leave my house and go out to lunch, so when I do, I try to enjoy myself and that I enjoy having a drink that I wouldn’t normally have at home. Maybe I should have made a comment about the time when she brought our drinks, because it was way past noon before that happened. Not only was I not driving , but I was not even walking! I later made a comment with my tip. Why does she think it’s wrong to drink before noon? Why can’t I wear white after Labor Day? Why don’t people eat seafood at breakfast time or have pancakes for dinner? Why is it weird to like dandelions in your yard? Who made up all these rules and standards of behavior? No wonder little kids are so happy, they don’t know all the rules yet. The older we get, the less happy we seem to be. Maybe it’s the whole terminal illness thing. You know that, “I don’t know how long I will be here so I should make the most of every day ” thing, but it just seems to me that there are too many silly guidelines someone, somewhere decided we should follow. I seem to care less and less about such things as time goes on. I care less about so many things, including those things that often pop up in the gossip category. So what if the neighbors granddaughter is unexpectedly expecting? She will figure things out. No, I can’t believe how many people go to the store dressed in whatever they’ve slept in, but that’s their choice. If they want to look ridiculous, that makes my shopping trip that much more entertaining. So what if your kid sucks at Algebra! If they aren’t good at math, help them find what they are good at. I find myself stressing less and less, and rarely worrying about anything. I must say, life is much more enjoyable this way. ALS is kind of like a gigantic hard to swallow, chill pill. It is hard to swallow/accept, but once you do, you (or at least I) chill out and quit worrying about all those things that once seemed so important. Even those problems or situations which seemed overwhelming suddenly aren’t so impossible. If at all possible, I recommend that you try to chill out a bit even if you aren’t dealing with a serious illness. Who knows, that might be just what you need to prevent an illness from arising. If you find that you need a little help getting your “chill” on, check out this video of Willie Nelson. Because, is there anyone on Earth who is more chill than Willie?